Chapter 5: Listening to Customers through Research – Flashcards

Which of the following types of research is unique to services?

To be effective, complaint solicitation requires:

A week after Kim cancelled her First USA MasterCard, she received a survey in the mail asking questions about First USA's service quality, its performance versus other credit card companies, her level of satisfaction with different dimensions of First USA's service and her reasons for canceling her account. Which of the following types of research did First USA conduct?

Which of the following is NOT a form of qualitative research?

The University of Central Florida's Incentive/Efficiency Program encourages employees to submit tangible ideas or suggestions that will result in savings or generate additional revenue for the University of Central Florida. The person who suggests an adopted proposal receives a cash reward equal to 10 percent of the first year's net savings or generated revenues. The University of Central Florida's Incentive/Efficiency Program is designed to achieve which of the following research objectives?

If you own a small advertising agency and have limited funding and even less time to spend on service marketing research, which of the following types of research would you be LEAST likely to use?

One benefit of _____ is that it identifies failure points and common problems in the service and can help establish an early-warning system for future defectors.

The most critical stage in the service marketing research process is when the marketing researcher:

Which of the following types of research has a high monetary cost?

Which of the following types of interaction activities in a service organization is used to obtain ideas for service improvement?

When Tom and Ruth checked out of the Marriott Hilton Head Resort, they were each given a brief postage paid survey to complete and return through the mail. The survey asked 15 questions about their stay at the Marriott Resort. It covered such attributes as overall satisfaction, check-in speed/efficiency, cleanliness, decor and comfort of their room, friendliness and efficiency of the staff, quality of dining experience, quality of merchandise/gift shop, intention to return and willingness to recommend to friends. Which of the following types of research did Marriott conduct?

The University of Leeds in the U.K. released findings of its study of television viewing behaviors. Seventeen families had permission for cameras with sound to be placed in the main living areas of their homes for two three-week periods over two years to watch them watch television. The University of Leeds used _____ to determine that people who have specifically chosen to watch a program are more likely to remain present for the commercial breaks within it.

Key Energy Co. provides quality oilfield construction, drilling and other services. The company's top management feels that stakeholders do not have a clear image of the company and are considering changing the name to clarify the organization's position in the market. Senior management is interviewing the company's salespeople to learn how they feel about selling Key Energy's services. As part of examining the corporate image, the company is using:

PSE&G, a utility company located in New Jersey is conducting a service marketing research study to assess its service performance. It will measure the gaps between customer expectations and perceptions along the five dimensions of service quality. Which of the following types of research should PSE&G use?

All of the following are among the criteria for an effective service research program EXCEPT:

One significant difference between the U.S. and Japanese culture is the love and respect the Japanese give their elders. A service provider who is trying to cater to the needs of the elderly might talk to some Japanese-Americans to gather some ideas on how to improve service quality. The cultural difference should make the service provider view providing service to the elderly from a different perspective. This sort of service research is called:

US Franchise System, Inc. (USFS) franchises its brand names such as Microtel Inns & Suites, Hawthorn Suites and Best Inns to independent hotel owners and operators. Every three months, employees from a different franchise overseen by USFS conduct customer satisfaction telephone surveys. Among the employees who regularly participate in the survey process are senior managers, who are trained and certified to conduct survey interviews. Which type of interaction activity is USFS using to improve upward communication?

One of the most useful forms of analysis in marketing research is the _____, which combines information about customer perceptions and importance ratings.

Which of the following is NOT a benefit of conducting research on the Internet?

Features research and lead user research are both categorized as types of:

The Limited recognizes sales associates who provide excellent customer service by rewarding them with a "Hero Award", which is displayed in the store where the sales associate is employed. To measure a sales associate's service performance, which type of research should The Limited use?

_____ research is conducted to clarify problem definition and prepare for more formal empirical research.

The health industry in the U.S. is an $840 trillion business. Adam.com is trying to cash in on some of that money by providing an Internet service that will answer health-related questions for customers. After a year in operation, Adam.com did an informal survey of its customers. It used open-ended questions to determine what people like and dislike about its service. Adam.com was conducting _____ research.

Which type of research is most reminiscent of an exit interview that would ask a question such as, "What exactly could we have done to keep you from leaving the company?" and "Is there anything we can do to keep you from resigning from your position"?

Trailer calls are also called:

Benford Bank hired marketing researchers when it noticed many people who had savings accounts with the bank did not have checking accounts and credit cards with it. The researchers would conduct _____ research if they wanted to test the hypothesis that customers do not like the checking account and credit card services of Benford Bank.

The Canfields want to landscape their 15-acre yard. The couple plans a herb garden in back that will lead to an English cottage garden. In the west side yard, they are planning on a Japanese garden and a rose garden will be located in the east side yard. They have hired a landscaper to draw the design and to do the actual planning. The Canfields want input on the landscaping. They have asked the landscaper to set up several points where they can give their inputs, correct anything they do not like and make changes before the plan is finalized. Most landscapers would be bothered with this seeming interference, but the landscaper the Canfields chose has used this method for years as a way to measure his company's customer service performance. The landscaper is using a method of gathering customer information most similar to which of the following methods?

Key Energy was a company that provided quality oilfield construction, drilling and other services. The company's top management felt stakeholders did not have a clear image of the company and were considering changing the name to clarify the organization's position in the market. The company conducted an hour long interview with four of its largest customers. Only 25 questions were asked and much probing was done to find out exactly what the participants meant. This is an example of a:

In the first stage in the service marketing research process, the researcher:

_____ involves identifying the benefits and the attributes that customers expect in a service.

Sunoco is readying a chain-wide set of marketing initiatives designed to improve its image with women drivers and win more return business to its service station outlets throughout Ontario. It refurbished all of its restrooms and tried to hire friendly personalities and real customer service skills instead of "just who was available". It hired an outside research organization to send people to Sunoco service stations twice monthly to grade staff on their customer interaction skills. What research method did Sunoco use to make sure that each station was implementing the new service strategy?

Which of the following statements about relationship surveys is true?

The new owner of the Atlanta Falcons football team had research conducted to learn why game attendance was low. The research revealed several reasons, including shortage of toilet paper and straws, high prices for bad seats and inadequate parking. Once all the problems were fixed, the team owner did not want to have any future attendance problems. He set up kiosks in the football stadium where attendees could give the team and the arena a "report card". This would be an example of:

One of the most frequently measured _________ is willingness to recommend the service.

Which of the following is NOT a research objective for improving upward communication in a service organization?

Which of the following types of research is NOT done on a continuous basis?

SwissAir made some unwise investments to pay for a planned expansion. As a result, the company had to make some cost-cutting moves that alienated its customers. Eventually the company declared bankruptcy, regrouped and found itself able to resume business. Its board of directors announced the company would resume flying within the next two years if it could prove the airline could regain at least 75 percent of its lost customers. It decided to allot $50,000 to determine the probability that its former customers would fly on the airline again and what methods requiring little or no money could be used to increase that probability. Which of the following two methods are low-cost research methods SwissAir could use to reach its research objectives?

Which of the following statements describes a benefit of critical incident studies?

Boston Symphony Orchestra realized the classic music market was generally becoming older and needed to learn how to appeal to younger concert-goers. It hired a research agency to identify the positive and negative attributes of going to concerts. One type of research conducted by the agency was to interview former symphony season ticket holders who were no longer attending the concerts. In other words, the agency used:

The new owner of the Atlanta Falcons football team wanted to know why game attendance was low. Former purchasers of season tickets were asked to provide an anecdote about a satisfying and a dissatisfying experience at a Falcon game. The researchers used:

The Learning Academy provides tutoring for children who are having trouble mastering some skill in school - whether it is math, reading, studying or something else. It wants to monitor and determine the strengths and weaknesses of The Learning Academy's curriculum. Which of the following types of research should The Learning Academy use to realize this objective?

Customer panels:

Boston Symphony Orchestra realized the classic music market was generally becoming older and needed to learn how to appeal to younger concert-goers. It hired a research agency to identify the positive and negative attributes of going to concerts. In other words, the research agency conducted a:

Century Business Systems, Inc. offers all of the non-technical support a business would need to operate successfully - everything from auditing to management consultant to financing to marketing advice. Which of the following types of interaction activities is it likely to use to gain information about its business customers and still be able to have only a minimal investment of time and money in the research?